We’d like to meet you!

Let’s schedule a 15-minute call so that we can get to know each other better. It will give both of us an opportunity to make sure we are a good fit for each other and determine how we can best meet your planning needs.

Frequently Asked Questions

Our financial planning process begins with you. We’ll organize your current financial situation and set expectations and goals unique to your perspectives and wishes. With this shared understanding, we can discuss strategies and tactics to achieve your goals together.

  • Think: Where are we now? What are our goals? What is possible? What would be amazing?
  • Plan: How do we use what we have to make change? How do we protect against things that can throw us off course?
  • Commit: What actions do we need to take? What habits should we instill to be aware of how we use our resources?

We price our services based on two factors: a family’s Net Worth and Income.  We feel this is the most conflict-free way that we can work with our clients on their financial planning.

This means that we only get paid by our clients. We receive no compensation for recommending one investment over another, one attorney over another, or one type of insurance over another. If we are making a recommendation it’s solely because we believe it is in your best interest.

In short, we legally have to act in our clients’ best interests.  Not every financial planner holds themselves to that standard so we are proud to be in the small number of firms that act as a fiduciary for all of our client relationships.

  • We are not everything to everyone. We are everything to a small group of clients who count on us to help them manage their financial lives. Our planners work with roughly 80 families each.
  • We own 100% of our firm – We have 11 shareholders who are all members of The Planning Center team, and have no outside financial stakeholders. While this doesn’t give us big-budget advertisements or sponsorships, it gives us complete independence and flexibility when choosing what we believe is best for our clients.
  • We bring on a limited number of new clients every year. Our planners manage the number of new clients we onboard each year to ensure excellent quality of work and client service for existing and new clients alike.
  • We integrate tax planning and services directly into our work. Our in-house tax team allows us to bring significant expertise to our clients throughout the year, to manage your tax burden and simplify the process for you either completing your taxes with one of our preparers or with us communicating directly with your existing preparer.

Yes. We are glad to work virtually with clients from across country.

The best way for us both to explore that is for us to have a conversation. Click here to schedule a 15-minute introductory phone call. Typically, the families we serve have a:

  • Household Income of over $250,000 per year
  • Net Worth of $1,000,000 or more
  • Or – some combination of the two above ($100,000 income and $1,500,000 Net Worth, etc)

You don’t have to have a large portfolio to start with us. If you have a strong income and a desire to have a guide helping you make choices, we should have a conversation as we advise clients in many situations. We have clients who own and invest heavily in their own businesses, in real estate, or in low-cost mutual fund portfolios that we manage for them. There’s no one size fits all approach.

Yes, our tax team and their services are often included within a client’s planning agreement (generally one Federal return and two state returns).  Services that can be provided at an additional fee can include corporate tax returns (most often S-Corp returns), trust tax returns, and tax returns for children or other family members.

We do not. We find we do our best work when we have clients who are looking for a guide and a partnership .  If you’re near one of our offices and need help locating a planner who offers hourly or project work, please email us and we’ll try to point you in the right direction.

We use third-party custodians to hold and protect your assets (Charles Schwab and Axos Advisor Services) and use low-cost mutual funds and exchange traded funds (ETFs) (Dimensional Fund Advisors and Vanguard) to build diversified portfolios. We believe in being extremely well diversified and minimizing the cost of investing, while pursuing the returns that our clients need to reach their goals.

We meet with our clients 2-4 times per year, based on our clients’ preferences and their needs.  There will be communications throughout the year by email or phone on a number of different topics specific to that client, as well as a tax engagement letter and the data collection and tax completion every spring if we are completing the tax returns for a client.

Our Locations

Chicago, IL

Fresno, CA

New Orleans, LA

Quad Cities, IL/IA

Twin Cities, MN

Anchorage, AK

Iowa City, IA